kailes2872
05-17-2014, 05:55 PM
Last night was a big night as I finally got '61 and now have 57-85. Up until now, I have been buying the sets and then upgrading as needed. I had minimal upgrades with 57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 69. 59 was a major upgrade (but I bought the original set very cheap), 58, 60, 70, 71, 72 had a modest amount, but still provided good value by the time that the upgrades were done versus the original price for the set. I paid more for the '61 up front than I did for any of the other sets, but I believe that I will have less than a couple hundred in upgrades and it is a very strong EXMT-NRMT set.
Which brings me to my current crossroads. Last night, there was a VG/VGEX '55 that I could have gotten for about 2 grand. The Clemente was probably a 3 OC, the Koufax was creased, the Killebrew was solid, Snider was almost filler, and the Mays was pretty strong. Commons were pretty solid in the VGEX-EX range. If I would have bought the set, I would have eventually upgraded Clemente to at least a 5 (possibly a 6), Koufax to a 6, and the Snider as well. By my count, that would been at least 2 grand in those 3 cards. At that point, I would have had 4 grand into it and a pretty uniform set. I would have had some value in the 3 cards that were upgraded, but I tend to hold onto them.
Since there are 340 cards in '56, 206, in 55, and 280 in '54, I was wondering if the smart thing to do would be to look for a large lot of cards from each of these years and then collect the stars star by star in the holder that I am looking for - or if there is still value in finding the entire set together (and knowing that I will be paying a pretty solid price at the grade that I am looking for). My big fear is that if I buy raw and send in the big cards for grading, they will come back at a lower grade than the raw description. For example, something called EXMT will come back as a 4 VGEX and I will want to upgrade to the higher grade.
Very long winded way of asking - those who have completed the smaller count sets like 54-56, did you do it card by card to get the stars in the specific grade that you were looking for, or did you buy it complete?
If it is a card by card with stars, that strategy is a little different for me than the whole set as I would probably look for starter lots in each and begin filling in the big cards in all three simultaneously as I find the right deal. If it is buying the entire set at one time, I would save up, buy 56, upgrade the set as needed, then buy 55, rinse and repeat, etc.
Thanks for any feedback.
Kevin
Which brings me to my current crossroads. Last night, there was a VG/VGEX '55 that I could have gotten for about 2 grand. The Clemente was probably a 3 OC, the Koufax was creased, the Killebrew was solid, Snider was almost filler, and the Mays was pretty strong. Commons were pretty solid in the VGEX-EX range. If I would have bought the set, I would have eventually upgraded Clemente to at least a 5 (possibly a 6), Koufax to a 6, and the Snider as well. By my count, that would been at least 2 grand in those 3 cards. At that point, I would have had 4 grand into it and a pretty uniform set. I would have had some value in the 3 cards that were upgraded, but I tend to hold onto them.
Since there are 340 cards in '56, 206, in 55, and 280 in '54, I was wondering if the smart thing to do would be to look for a large lot of cards from each of these years and then collect the stars star by star in the holder that I am looking for - or if there is still value in finding the entire set together (and knowing that I will be paying a pretty solid price at the grade that I am looking for). My big fear is that if I buy raw and send in the big cards for grading, they will come back at a lower grade than the raw description. For example, something called EXMT will come back as a 4 VGEX and I will want to upgrade to the higher grade.
Very long winded way of asking - those who have completed the smaller count sets like 54-56, did you do it card by card to get the stars in the specific grade that you were looking for, or did you buy it complete?
If it is a card by card with stars, that strategy is a little different for me than the whole set as I would probably look for starter lots in each and begin filling in the big cards in all three simultaneously as I find the right deal. If it is buying the entire set at one time, I would save up, buy 56, upgrade the set as needed, then buy 55, rinse and repeat, etc.
Thanks for any feedback.
Kevin